Atatürk University Hosts Third “CoHE 100/2000 Doctoral Scholarship
Student Meeting” in Erzurum
May 20, 2019 / Erzurum
The “New CoHE” initiated the “CoHE 100/2000 Doctoral Scholarship Project”,
a first in the history of Turkish higher education, in accordance with
Turkey’s goal to become one of the 10 biggest economies in the world by
2023. The third meeting with the scholarship holders receiving doctoral
education under the project was hosted by Akdeniz University in Antalya.
CoHE Executive Board Member, Prof. Naci Gündoğan, CoHE Member, Prof.
Muammer Yaylalı, nearly 300 scholarship holders from Atatürk University,
Artvin Çoruh University, Erzurum Technical University, Fırat University,
Iğdır University, Karadeniz Technical University, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
University, and Van Yüzüncü Yıl University, and the rectors of these
universities attended the meeting.
The rectors of Anadolu University, Ağrı İbrahim Çeçen University, Ardahan
University, Bayburt University, Bingöl University, Erzincan Binali Yıldırım
University, Gümüşhane University, Kafkas University, Munzur University, Muş
Alparslan University, and Trabzon University were also present in the
meeting.
CoHE Executive Board Member, Prof. Naci Gündoğan, delivered the opening
speech. He pointed out that the number of PhD holders had been increasing
in Europe and in the world and noted that 97 thousand students, of which
43,265 are female students, are receiving doctoral education.
We have to increase the number of PhD holders
Gündoğan stated that the rate of people with doctoral degrees corresponds
to 2.2 in 1000 people in China, 1.7 in the U.S.A, 1.5 in EU member
countries and 0.4 in Turkey and said “In order to increase our ranking
among the developed countries, we have to increase the number of PhD
holders in Turkey. That is how we came up with the 100/2000 Project."
He noted that doctoral programs were categorized as innovative doctoral
programs, industrial doctoral programs and future doctoral programs
targeted at the academia, especially at established universities, after the
2000s. “Industrial doctoral programs have become relatively successful with
the San-Tez Project in Turkey. However, we expect different research teams
to produce extensive research projects in comprehensive research
laboratories for innovative doctoral programs,” he said.
Students do their doctorate in 100 subfields
Gündoğan pointed out that the subfields to which scholarships are granted
under the 100/2000 CoHE Doctoral Scholarship Programs lie in four many
areas which are “Fundamental Sciences and Engineering”, “Health Sciences”,
“Social Sciences” and “Architecture and Design” and that there are 100
subfields in these areas.
Gündoğan shared the following about the current status of the program:
“The fifth call of the project was made in the spring term of the 2018-2019
academic year. Approximately 3,700 students were granted scholarships at
the end of the fifth call period. We aim to increase this number to 4,000
this year.”
"We are giving all the support we could to the program"
Prof. Ömer Çomaklı, Rector of Atatürk University, said that they welcomed
CoHE 100/2000 Project with great enthusiasm and that they had been giving
all the support they could.
Students, who are doing their PhD in various fields, from health to
engineering, shared their academic studies with the participants.
These include advanced scientific projects in hydrogen and fuel cells,
sustainable active agriculture, renewable energy sources, molecular
oncology, micro and nanotechnology.